Butter the base of a 22cm springform pan and line with non-stick baking paper.

In a bowl, combine biscuit crumbs and melted butter. Press firmly into the base of the pan and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 150°C. Mix cornflour and water together in a small bowl to make a runny paste. Place cream cheese in a food processor and whiz until smooth, add ricotta and whiz again to combine. Add the eggs, cornflour mixture, sugar, lemon zest and juice. Whiz until all combined.

Pour 2/3 of the cream cheese filling into pan, sprinkle cherries over, and then cover with remaining cheesecake mixture. Place onto a baking tray (just in case there is overflow or seepage from the springform pan). Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour. Check to see if the cheesecake is set in the middle, if not, bake for another 10-15 minutes.

Cool in pan, then run a knife around the edge of the pan, release sides of pan and transfer to a serving plate. I leave the cheesecake on the base of the pan. Refrigerate until cold or needed.

Just before serving, top with fresh cherries and dust with icing sugar (place icing sugar in a tea strainer and sprinkle from a height). What an impressive dessert! Serve with thick cream.

notes

I love baked cheesecake. And the lemon and cherries in this version cut through the richness. A nice cool alternative to Christmas pudding.

Best of all, cheesecake can be prepared a day or two ahead of serving and kept nice and cold in your overloaded fridge. Added bonus: the taste improves while you are worrying about the turkey, doing a last minute clean of the house and wrapping presents at 11pm on Christmas Eve!

Store leftover cherries in the jar in the fridge and use later in muffins or cakes.

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